VITAMIN-A LEVELS OF CHILDREN WITH MEASLES IN ANKARA, TURKEY

Recent studies show that vitamin A levels decrease during measles and that vitamin A therapy can improve measles outcome in children in the developing world. Vitamin A levels of children with measles have not b een studied before in Turkey. Therefore we measured serum vitamin A le vels in 21 children with measles and compared the results with ''sick' ' and ''healthy'' control groups. The mean vitamin A levels in childre n with measles were markedly lower than in the ''sick'' and ''healthy' ' control groups (p: 0.001), Vitamin A levels in children with measles ranged from 1.3 to 32 mu g/dl; 11 (52%) were vitamin A deficient (< 1 0 mu g/dl). This frequency among Turkish children supports evaluation of vitamin A status as a part of acute management of measles in Turkey . Clinicians may wish to consider vitamin A therapy for children with measles according to WHO recommendations.